President Trump Shakes Up Legal Team, But Not Strategy

President Trump shook up his legal team over the weekend, bringing in Ty Cobb as “special counsel” at the White House to oversee the internal and external responses to the expanding Russia investigation. But that hasn’t stopped Trump from continuing to tweet about the probe—or for his son, son-in-law, and their legal teams from keeping the most visible representation of the stakes in the news by failing to fully disclose the participants in the their June 2016 meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer. Now that meeting is known to have included a Russian-American who has been accused of working for Russian intelligence, among others. The drip-drip-drip approach is becoming paralyzing for the Trump Administration. Meanwhile, Trump has gone from arguing that there was no collusion to explaining that not exploring a partnership with the Russian government would have been political malpractice.

The Senate health care bill is being delayed after Sen. John McCain underwent surgery this weekend, depriving Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of the votes to proceed to debate on the legislation. But even without McCain’s illness, it was far from certain that McConnell had the votes to move forward—and the delay could only prove more problematic for the bill, which hasn’t yet had a public score released by the Congressional Budget Office. Sens. Rand Paul and Susan Collins are both committed to opposing the bill, meaning McConnell has no margin for further defections.

The Secret Service contradicts Trump’s attorney. The White House falls short on opioid fight. And Democrats still have no message.

Politics Newsletter

“I wonder why the Secret Service, if this was nefarious, why the Secret Service allowed these people in. The President had Secret Service protection at that point, and that raised a question with me.” — Trump attorney Jay Sekulow to ABC News. The Secret Service denied that it had any role in vetting those in the meeting with Donald Trump, Jr.

“Most politicians would have gone to a meeting like the one Don jr attended in order to get info on an opponent. That’s politics!” — President Trump in a Monday morning tweet